Should I go soldier, not lvl, then go guardian and focus on fighting and lightsaber abilities? Can I still cast good dark side spells. What stats should I start with and go for? When you are first given the option to make a lightsaber, can you only make 1 kind, or can you make double-bladed, long and short? What items should I try to get to make my character the best possible?

Or, should I go sentinel, not lvl, then go consular and focus on spells? What would be more powerful? Who would be more powerful for each of these options, dark or light? What items should I try to get to make my character the best possible?

When you first get your lightsaber, the only real customizing you can do is picking the color. Other than that, until you defeat Dark Jedi, Mandalorians, or find more crystals, you are stuck with one single bladed lightsaber. But you can carry a vibrosword or sword in the other hand.

I really didnt see the difference in leveling up on Taris or waiting until Dantooine. The only real difference is if you wait, you can choose more Tier-1 powers and get a head start on Tier-2 and Tier-3 Force Powers.

As far as Jedi Sentinel, Guardian, or Consular - they go hand in hand with the type of character you are. Soldier-Guardian; Scout-Sentinel; Scoundrel-Consular. If you build up a soldier then choose Sentinel or Consular, you are hurting yourself.

Either side can use either side's Force Powers. Good Bastila can use Bad Force Lightning, however, it does cost more Force Points to use the other sides Force Powers.

If you want to use two lightsabers, consider putting the feats on the "Two-Weapon" path. And also hit up the Weapon Proficiency-Lighsaber or -Melee Weapons. Also go for the "Power Attack", "Critical Strike", and "Flurry" paths. If you only want one saber or a double bladed saber, dont use "Two Weapon", instead go for "Dueling".

As far as the better side, I think the Dark Side has more powers which effect enemies the most. The Light Side has powers which help themselves alot. Plus being the Dark Side, you can use the Force Persuasion to make people give you credits and see things your way.

Now for the hardest question, Attibutes and Skills. Quick run down of Attributes:

Strength - A higher number in this category makes your weapon do more damage. Also, this number affects whether or not your weapons hit or miss. Lower number here mean higher number of misses.

Dexterity - The higher this number is, the harder the character is to hit. A higher number also lowers if not cancels any damage done by grenades or blaster fire. However, if you have a high dexterity, dont put the character into heavy armor as it will negate the dexterity and make all the building up useless. Zaalbar and the Jedi are good as far as needing high dexterity.

Constitution - Not much doing here. Mission and scoundrels are the only who should have high numbers here. Anyone else is basically a waste.

Intelligence - This number affects the number of skill points you can distribute while leveling up. If you pump alot into this, you can be dishing out 5 or 6 points per level up instead of 1 or 2 (into skills).

Wisdom - Only good for Jedi characters. This number of Force points used to use Force Powers. Also, having a high Wisdom number means that enemies are less likely to resist your power. Jolee should have a high Wisdom since the bulk of his attacks should be Force related.

Charisma - This affects your persuade skill and your Force Powers. Higher number here means more bang for your buck in Force attacks, healing, and defensive powers. It also helps on those persuasive rolls to decided whether or not you can convice someone to your train of thought.

As for skills:

Computer Use - higher number means less computer spikes needed. save this for the droids though and focus yours more on other skills.

Demolitions - higher number here determines if you can disarm or even retrieve mines. best with Mission.

Stealth - higher number here determines whether or not enemies can detect you while camo'd. save for Mission and/or Juhani.

Persuade - this number affects whether or not people will listen to you. sometimes you will have the option to persuade someone to lower the price or leave you alone. good for yourself, since you do all the talking in the game.

Repair - vital for droids. affects their ability to repair themselves. also, higher number here means less parts you have to use when "reviving" a broken droid. good for the droids and zaalbar.

Security - some doors have to be picked in the game. higher security means you can do it. i tried to play without putting anything into security, but didnt get far with side missions. good for yourself and maybe Mission.

Treat Injury - important for soldiers. affects the number of VP's ou get back with medpacks. everyone should build this up.

Well, I think that just about covers it all. Any other questions? I didnt know there was a limit on how many pictures or smiles we could have in one post.

I disagree that choosing a "different" Jedi class necessarily hurts the character. I do agree that in many cases you wouldn't want to - like if you build a soldier and then choose consular b/c you won't have the charisma, persuade, etc to maximize the consular's abilities. But a friend of mine did just that and he's enjoying it a lot; he doesn't have to "maximize" everything. I started a Scout and then became a Guardian b/c I wanted to focus on melee and lightsaber skills, and that's worked just fine. Starting as a soldier would just mean that I'd have more feats by now. The Scout is flexible that way; you can go either Consular or Guardian and have it work pretty well, depending on how you allocated your attribute and skill points.

RE: the "most powerful" Jedi...that's going to be different for different people. If you want a melee brawler who's devastating with lightsabers, go Guardian. Put your points into STR, CON, and DEX. Put feats into melee skills like lightsaber specialization, flurry, critical strike, and power attack. Force powers could go to shield, speed, etc.

i didnt say you had to go straight across. i said it hurt or hampered you if you changed. if you start out with a soldier and put everything into strength and constitution, then changed to consular, you missed out on putting points towards persuade. that would hamper you more than if you would have started out a scout and put everything into persuade earlier in the game.

and so long as it's fun, whatever combo you want it cool. i choose based upon what color lightsaber i want this time around. but i always start out with soldier and max out strength and intelligence.

Alrigtht, this is just my oppinion, and by no means the ultimate, but stil a lot of fun. It is important to note that when using lightsabers, the game uses whatever is higher of your strenght and dex. This alows you to make a jedi more in line with the movies. First chose scout as a class, get 16dex, as much wis as you think you need (its your second most important stat), nerf strenght, and do whatever you want with the rest, though a "realistic" jedi should not have much con. If you power play, upp con, and add cha/int depending on what you like.

Now, always put new points into dex, and get the 2 weapon fighting feats, the flurry feats, implant feats, lightsaber feats, conditoning feats+any you feel like getting. This build is for a lighsider, and for powers, you need the speed ones, valor ones, aura ones, and heal,+any you like. Level the scout up to lvl4, then go with guardian.
Equipment: one saber in each hand, any crystals ading damage is a good thing, +to hit not so much. Quel-Droma robes (they dont have a limit to maximum dex to ac(defence bonus+5, +2wis)). The implant that grants you +5dex. Advanced stabiliser gloves (+3dex,+bb deflection). Combat sensor (2+dex). Baragwin stealth unit (4+awareness, 3+dex)/when fighting manipulating bastards: nerve aplifier belt(imunity: mind affecting).

This guy is all about slicing and dicing, once he gets his power running, its 5 attacks a round that almos always hits (add stimulants, and heads will roll, fast!) . Enemies however, will struggle to deliver pain, and even when they do, this guy can take it.

Last edited by mur'phon; 10-17-2007 at 02:35 PM.
Reason: I learnt something

When I play sentinal, I like to go for an intelligence, maximized skill player. I go all out putting my points into giving my character a 16 intelligence, downing my dexterity and strength to pay for it, then putting my new levels into boosting my intelligence score.

When I play consular, I choose male so that I get the handmaiden and also get the wisdom combat bonuses, then play all out towards boosting wisdom and FP.

Personally I think Wis is better than Dex for Jedis. Jedi get their Wis bonus to AC anyways, so adding to Wis is almost the same as adding to Dex except for things like shooty (and some skills) which you should not be doing without the equip-unequip specific gear sequence.. Wis get you the extra bonus on better force power also.

It really is a role-playing choice of what sort of character you prefer, so you'll get at least as many different suggestions as you get answers, and they will all work too.

Since others have thrown in their two credits, I will too. My approach is based primarily on creating a character that can explore all the secrets of the game (without cheating) and still be pretty decent in combat and at using force powers. To do this, I begin play as a Scout. This gives me decent hit points, but also a fair goods number of skills and some bonus feats that I'll need. I'll level up the character as often as I can until he reaches level 5. Then I won't advance him any further until I turn him into a jedi guardian.

In K1, your to-hit bonus is based on Dex, so Strength affects only damage, which I find less relevant. You'll need high Wis for your force powers and high Charisma for your persuasion skill (which is the most important skill in the game). I'd want a high Dex for good to-hit (for both blasters and lightsabers) as well as for initiative and better defense. And you'll need high Intelligence, since the jedi guardian's skill progression, well, sucks So it comes down to a choice between whether you find Str or Con more important. I tend to go for the extra hit points I get from Con. As the character progresses, I'll up my Dex and Wis twice each. I usually do Dex a third time as well (at level 20), but it really doesn't matter so much by then.

For skills, I max Computer Use, Awareness, Persuade, Repair and Treat Injury. They all get four points and so go to four ranks, except Persuade, which is a cross-class skill for the scout. But it doesn't matter - ALWAYS max the Persuade skill, no exceptions! Because the main character is the only character in the game who can build it. I keep maxing these skills early in the game. Persuade has highest priority, then Repair and Computer Use (and in that order!), then the others. This means I'll basically build only Persuade, Repair and Computer from level 5 and up. Always, always build Persuade. And build only that and Repair when you become a jedi guardian. Don't build Repair beyond level 15, however, as there is no need (but you NEED 15 for plot reasons!). Once Repair is 15, I take Computer Use up to level 10 for another, less important plot reason. After that, it doesn't matter. But ALWAYS build Persuade!

The scout gets the bonus feats of Flurry and Implant Level 1, which is good, because I'll be buildig those feats. For my first feat, I'll choose Two-Weapon Fighting. I choose Toughness and Conditioning at levels 2 and 3, not because they are good feats, but because I must choose something, and those can be useful, particularly Toughness. I'll get Implant Level 2 as a free bonus feat as a level 3 scout. The feats I'll later choose as I get to pick feats are Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Flurry, Master Two-Weapon Fighting, Master Flurry, Weapon Focus: Lightsaber, Weapon Specialization: Lightsaber, Implanet Level 3, Advanced Jedi Defense and finally Master Jedi Defense. And I'll choose them in that order. This gives me lots of lightsaber fighting skill, and I can use any implant in the game, augmenting my powers further.

Force powers are a matter of taste, particularly depending on your alignment. You can use the dark side even if you're lightsided (and vice versa), but it'll cost you extra force points to do so. High Wisdom and Charisma helps, though, which is another reason for taking high stats there. I usually play LS, which means cure/heal are selfevident. But make sure you take the force resist and speed progressions as early as possible, especially the latter. Affect/Dominate Mind should be taken simply because only the main character can have those. I also find Force Suppress/Breach useful against enemy force powers and thrown (+ advanced) lightsaber has purpose in the game's final fight. Other than, it's a choice between building the stun or force push progressions for me.

"It is all that is left unsaid upon which tragedies are built" - Kreia

Wow, that sounds like an awesome character build, Jediphile. Just one question for you, though: As you know, as you level up, you get to upgrade your stat points every now and again.

What would you recommend what stats to spend the points you get on? I'm asking because I'm planning on gettin' the old KotOR out again and going through a few playthroughs of it in preparation for TSLRP.

In fact, one more question I have is: If you discontinue to level up past level 5 on Taris, does that mean you can level up your Jedi class 15 times, or doesn't it work that way?

"Here is my final point. About drugs, about alcohol, about pornography and smoking and everything else. What business is it of yours what I do, read, buy, see, say, think, who I ****, what I take into my body - as long as I do not harm another human being on this planet?"

Wow, that sounds like an awesome character build, Jediphile. Just one question for you, though: As you know, as you level up, you get to upgrade your stat points every now and again.

What would you recommend what stats to spend the points you get on? I'm asking because I'm planning on gettin' the old KotOR out again and going through a few playthroughs of it in preparation for TSLRP.

Yeah, I forgot to include that. I tend to up Dex at level 4, then Wis at both level 8 and 12, then finally Dex again at levels 16 and 20. Combined with the various stats-boosting items, this gives you excellent stats by the end of the game, at least if you play LS and use the Circlet of Saresh.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Architect

In fact, one more question I have is: If you discontinue to level up past level 5 on Taris, does that mean you can level up your Jedi class 15 times, or doesn't it work that way?

At the risk of quoting Qliveur, yes, it does. Basically you have 20 levels that you can distribute among your initial and jedi classes as you like. You cannot take less than two levels with the initial class, because the game will not let you progress beyond the bridge on the Endar Spire until you've advanced to level 2.

I've heard of people taking only two levels with the initial class. It should work, though I've never tried it myself. I tend to be what you might call a "completist", which means I find myself compelled to explore absoulutely every inch of the game's universe - if I cannot accomplish something due to my character make-up, I'm quite likely to start from scratch with a "better" build. This meant that I just had to defeat Bendak on Taris (even though I was LS), and being a level 5 scout at the time, that was a challenge. Maybe I'm a bad player (entirely possible), but I don't see how I could have won that fight playing only level 2. But I hear of people who have done it, so it is possible. I guess I just don't have the patience... Besides, I also tend to be cheapskate when it comes to using one-use or even limited-use items (like medpacks and grenades), which made the fight tougher...

"It is all that is left unsaid upon which tragedies are built" - Kreia

Would you recommend changing anything different stats wise with your character build if you weren't playing LS and did not obtain the Circlet of Saresh, which I guess must be a PC version only item?

Would you recommend changing anything different stats wise with your character build in TSL?

I'm a "completest" as well. I wouldn't say you're a bad gamer, being able to beat Bendak at level 5. I can't recall if I faced him at level 7 or 8, all I know is, it was one of the two, and I remember struggling to beat Bendak.

Without the usage of grenades and medpacs, there was no way in hell I could've beaten the jerk face. Unlike you, I'm not a tight ass when it comes to using such items.

I'll probably find myself ceasing to level up on Taris when I get to level 6 or 7. It depends on if I'm getting owned or not.

"Here is my final point. About drugs, about alcohol, about pornography and smoking and everything else. What business is it of yours what I do, read, buy, see, say, think, who I ****, what I take into my body - as long as I do not harm another human being on this planet?"

The game use strenght or dex when determening your chance to hit with lightsabers. It choose whatever is highest, so a armour wearing jedi should go for strenght. I do agree with you, and the only change I would make one your jack-of-all guy would be to lower his strenght to 8.

Quote:

and being a level 5 scout at the time, that was a challenge

Agreed, Bendak is a nasty opponent. I beat him at lvl4 with my dodging devil, and only my amazing reflex save, a dex-stim and enough grenades to blow up the death star kept me alive.

Just my point about Bendak...
I usually wait until I completed the Vulkar Base, because you usually end up with some five plasma nades, we both start the fight by throwing one, then I run until I hear the explosion behind me, throw a new plasma nade, repeat this until he starts using his blaster. There I use and reuse and rereuse my Energy Shields, and I keep throwing nades 'cause it's what works best against him (when I don't have plasma anymore I use frag). I guess this strategy works whether you're level 2 or 20.
...
Anyway, I cannot beat Bendak this way anymore since I installed Shem's Super Enhanced Mod XD

Back to topic, these are really well-thought stats you made, Jediphile. I tend to use the same... Though in K2 I put 10 in both STR and CON to get one extra point in INT and set it to 16 at level 4. Skills are so important in tSL...

"Do you think I seek the death of all living things? There is no victory in such things.
I do not want to win our war like this, little Jedi. When I win, I wish it to be because I was right, my teachings true."
- Kreia, Jedi Master, Sith Lord

I'm not sure, but I do believe that should be in the Xbox version as well.

As for changing anything, not really. It's been a long time since I played the DS version of things, but IIRC, I played pretty much the same stats, except I may have focused a bit more on Str. as the last boost to go with the Str boost you get for DS Mastery (at least as a DS Jedi Guardian). But other than that, I think I followed the same guidelines.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Architect

Would you recommend changing anything different stats wise with your character build in TSL?

Oh my yes - TSL is a completely different beast. Not least because the rules have changed. Where whichever is best of Str or Dex determine - as mur'phon correctly points out - your bonus to to-hit with lightsabers, it's only Str that does in TSL. So if you want a bonus to lightsaber combat in TSL, then you must build strength.

That said, TSL makes no distinction between your classes, and the to-progression is just as good for a jedi consular as it is for a jedi guardian. In TSL, I advice beginning as a Jedi Sentinel and then changing to Jedi Master as soon as you hit level 15. In TSL my exile had these initial stats:

Str 14
Dex 10
Con 14
Int 14
Wis 14
Cha 12

As you can see I've switched both Dexterity and Strength as well as Charisma and Constitution. The reason for the second change is that implants works different in TSL. Where they were based on the implant level feasts you took in KotOR1, in TSL it depends exclusively on your Constitution. So to use the toughtest implants, you must have Constitution 18. It's much, much easier to unveal all the secrets in TSL, however, because you have almost no limit in your level progression (okay, you do, but you're unlikely to reach level 50 even so - at least I could never be bothered to push for it), and since you begin as a jedi, you have a lot more force powers.

Where in KotOR1 I have to micromanage all the skills, feats and force powers and spread them out over all my companions to gain access to them all, in TSL I can have the exile alone build all those that are even worth considering. When I play the exile, I take stats improvments like this:

After level 24, I tend to up Wisdom, even though it really doesn't matter much after that.

Playing a Sentinel with that intelligence will also give you a whopping 5 skill points per level, or 6 after you push Int to 16 at level 8. You'll want that, however, both because there are dialogue options only available to characters with high Int and/or Wis (which seems to mean 16+) and because unlike K1, skills really do matter in TSL and can be hugely advantageous - although I'm a jedi and have healing force powers, I still build Treat Injury just to create the best implants and boost-items at the workbench. By the end of the game, I'll - without cheating - have at least 20 skill ranks in EVERY single skill, just for the exile alone. My skill priority looks like this:

Basically, this means you always keep Persuade maxed and then try to keep pretty much all the other skills on the same level except Stealth, which I'll only build later. Demolitions is bloody useful in this game, but it's a cross-class skill for a sentinel. To fix that, I'll turn it into a class skill with my first feat. In fact, my chosen feats (excluding those I get for free) look like this:

After that it becomes pretty moot what you take, though I tend to build the toughness progression of feats next. Note that I don't take Weapon Focus: Lightsaber and Regenerate Force Points, because a first level Jedi Master (level 16 on the above list) gets those as free bonus feats, if he doesn't have them already.

Unlike KotOR1, you don't need to plan your force powers as much both because you're a jedi from the beginning and because you have a lot more levels granting you force powers. Playing LS, I tend to take force powers in this order (beginning at level 2):

... and so on and so forth... At this point you're pushing level 20 and really shouldn't worry too much about which force powers you take when. Note that I take energy resist early and build it, because it's just a wonderful force power - it lasts longer than it takes for you to regain the force points it costs, so it should be used constantly, since it works against both laser blasts and lightsabers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Architect

I'm a "completest" as well. I wouldn't say you're a bad gamer, being able to beat Bendak at level 5. I can't recall if I faced him at level 7 or 8, all I know is, it was one of the two, and I remember struggling to beat Bendak.

The trick with Bendak is to keep moving. You can sometimes "cheat" the computer into accepting your use of a medpack even while on the move. You definitely want neither want to rush into melee with Bendak or just trade laser blasts with him from a distance. Throw your grenade, then move left or right. He'll throw a grenade as well, but he'll stand his ground and get your grenade right in the kisser... But he can gobble up quite a few, so make sure you keep running while you keep your distance and make sure you use plenty of shield-units. As Farscape's Rygel would say, "I never retreat - I strategically maneuver..." (and yes, we SO lack that :shifty: emoticon)

"It is all that is left unsaid upon which tragedies are built" - Kreia

your bonus to to-hit with lightsabers, it's only Str that does in TSL. So if you want a bonus to lightsaber combat in TSL, then you must build strength.

*coughlightsabersfinessecough*
... Or did I miss the fact that the feat isn't working ? If it does correctly, I'd switch again STR and DEX and remove Master Flurry to take it (the penalties to damages and defense are not that serious with Improved. Plus, Improved combat feats get horrible SFX).

"Do you think I seek the death of all living things? There is no victory in such things.
I do not want to win our war like this, little Jedi. When I win, I wish it to be because I was right, my teachings true."
- Kreia, Jedi Master, Sith Lord

*coughlightsabersfinessecough*
... Or did I miss the fact that the feat isn't working ? If it does correctly, I'd switch again STR and DEX and remove Master Flurry to take it (the penalties to damages and defense are not that serious with Improved. Plus, Improved combat feats get horrible SFX).

Of course weapon finesse works with lightsabers. I could never be bothered to take it, though, because there are loads of feats to take, and it would be a long time indeed before I got the feat then. Sacrificing Master Flurry means sacrificing an attack per round, which I consider a very bad exchange. Much easier to just take Strength early on, I thought. YMMV.

"It is all that is left unsaid upon which tragedies are built" - Kreia

I guess that's just another matter of pov. Mine is : I can do with -2 to defense and -3 to attack (If I start with 14 in DEX I already offset the defense penalty, and with the amount of boosting items + If LS Master Force Valor + Lightsaber Forms, I easily overcome it).
I've always prefered the "tank" approach when fighting. But I'm aware that's not the only one. Anyway, your stats make exactly what we are looking for : The dialogue expert who can still fight decently.

"Do you think I seek the death of all living things? There is no victory in such things.
I do not want to win our war like this, little Jedi. When I win, I wish it to be because I was right, my teachings true."
- Kreia, Jedi Master, Sith Lord

I'm not sure, but I do believe that should be in the Xbox version as well.

Yeah, it is. I remember now.

"Here is my final point. About drugs, about alcohol, about pornography and smoking and everything else. What business is it of yours what I do, read, buy, see, say, think, who I ****, what I take into my body - as long as I do not harm another human being on this planet?"

I just have one more question in regards to this for you: Would you recommend turning off the auto level up system on your party members and doing it yourself or not?

I definitely do it myself every time, though it's less important in TSL. In K1, you have few jedi, and those you have are a vital resource that you cannot afford to waste. I wanted access to any and all force powers in the game - even when I played LS - and to get that I had to min/max the jedi characters' progression, especially Juhani's and Jolee's.

Indeed, I have min/max'ed ALL the characters of both games, though I don't think I ever finished doing so in TSL where it becomes completely moot around level 15 or so. In K1 I min/max'ed so that I had access to the maximum effects of all skills, feats, and force powers in the game. What can I say... I don't particularly like the planning, but since doing so definitely affects the outcome, I just can't help but to do it. Besides, I could never trust the stupid AI to make even remotely qualified choices on my behalf

EDIT: Oh, just remembered something. A major reason why I don't go through all the min/max'ing in TSL is because I feel completely compelled to turn any and all of my companions (that I can) into jedi, and with the absolutely maximum number of levels as jedi as well (note sure if there's a reason for my chosen screenname right there...). Therefore I will not take any levels with Atton, Bao-Dur or whomever, until after they've become jedi, at which point - of course - putting them in the party is pretty moot, since I already have both Kreia and Visas at that time. I do pay attention to T3, though - as much as he sucked in K1, he rocks in TSL.

"It is all that is left unsaid upon which tragedies are built" - Kreia

I wholeheartedly agree with you, Jediphile, that CON is very important in TSL. In fact, I always put my first three attribute points into it after starting off with 14. The fourth comes, er, um, later. The universal D-package is far too valuable to not do this. It provides a total of 12 attribute points, after all.

I disagree, however, about STR. I believe that DEX is more important because of the defense bonus and so I always take the finesse with lightsabers feat instead. And in TSL I also favor the power attack feat tree over flurry because in TSL it's just so damn powerful.

I never use the auto level-up feature (except maybe on G0T0 ).

And yes, T3 went from a non-entity in K1 to an actual character in TSL.

"They should rename the team to the Washington Government Sucks. Put Obama on the helmet. Line the entire walls of the stadium with the actual text of the ACA.

Fix their home team score on the board to the debt clock, they can win every game 17,000,000,000,000 to 24. Losing team gets taxed by the IRS 100%, then droned."